


A Curious Case of the Spark

by SpaceguyLewis



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Randomly Appearing Sparks, Robot Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 17:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1826677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceguyLewis/pseuds/SpaceguyLewis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Optimus is besieged by millions of tiny sparks that appear when he's around Arcee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Curious Case of the Spark

It was a slow, quiet day in the newly-rebuilt Iacon Hall of Records. Optimus sat at a datacore console, silently cataloging and recovering files from before the war. Quiet pedesteps echoed off the walls, along with quiet humming and the swish of a mop. Optimus turned his head slightly, a small splotch of navy blue with pink stripes appearing in the corner of his vision. Arcee was making her rounds around the massive library, cleaning and searching for pests to murder. Without warning, a quiet 'pop!' sounded by his audio receptor. Optimus turned his head, optics widening at the miniature pulsing spark floating by his olfactory ridge. It looked eerily similar to his own, only with more red and not as bright. He reached up and grasped the little sphere of light between two digits and squished it slightly, seeing it flatten and return to its normal shape. He was so engrossed in examining the spark that he didn’t notice Arcee draw near until she spoke.

“Want some hot energon?” she asked, and Optimus jumped, subspacing the spark.

“What – no – yes! Please?” he yelped, and Arcee smiled at him before going away again. Optimus resisted the urge to grind the palms of his servos into his optics out of embarrassment, so he settled for burying his face in his arms. What he missed, however, was yet another spark winking into existence next to his blue-flushed faceplates.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

Several megacycles later, Optimus was quietly making his way up one of the spiral staircases to a high-reaching tower of the Hall in search of an ancient datapad. His thoughts drifted as he climbed, going from his human friends back on Earth to their guardians before settling on Arcee. He was so proud of how the two-wheeler had matured since her arrival on Earth, but also a little regretful about how rough the road had been on everyone. The sounds of his pedes thudding against the winding steps drowned out the quiet ‘plink-ding-ing-ing…’ as yet another pseudo-spark popped into being and rolled down the staircase. After a while it rolled to a stop in the middle of the hallway adjacent to the first stair, glowing brightly in the gloom of the hall.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

 _‘This is becoming a major problem.”_ Optimus thought as he carefully balanced hundreds of pseudo-sparks inside of an empty energon container. They had appeared during his recharge the night before, and he had woken up to a floor covered in little glowing baubles. He glanced around the corridor he was striding down and opened a door that he knew had a window that he could throw the damn pseudo-sparks out of. Optimus practically sprinted to the window, determined to get rid of the stupid baubles once and for all. However, just as he reached the window, he saw a familiar splotch of blue and pink holding a datapad. He turned his head to see if she had seen him, and in doing so he tripped over his own pedes. As Optimus fell forward he saw Arcee look up from her datapad early enough to see him trip but too late to keep him from falling out the window. As the wind rushed past his audio receptors, Optimus was just happy that he was only on the third floor as opposed to the top of one of the astronomy towers.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

“You’ve been acting extremely odd lately, Optimus.” Ratchet said as he none-too-gently hammered out a large dent in the eighteen-wheeler’s shoulder armor. Optimus sighed and rubbed his forhelm crest. After his fall out the window – which was _completely accidental,_ thank you very much – Ratchet had dragged him into Medbay and had spent the better part of three megacycles pounding out the superficial dents and welding together a couple of tears in his thigh plating.

“I can’t fool you, can I, old friend?” The ambulance snorted as he finished welding a small tear back together.

“Optimus, we’ve been friends for nearly six millennia now, of course you can’t fool me.” The two shared a small chuckle that was cut short by a quiet knock on the door. Arcee was leaning against the doorframe, watching them with a small smile on her face. At the sight of the two wheeler Optimus’s spark spun a little faster, and to his horror he heard the tell-tale pop of _more_ pseudo-sparks appearing.

“Hello, Arcee!” Ratchet called, walking over to the femme and clapping a servo onto her shoulder. As the two began to talk, Optimus saw that the pseudo-sparks had appeared all over Ratchet’s scanning equipment and he quickly subspaced as many as he could before Ratchet turned back around.

“Well, you’re free to go Optimus. Just take it easy for a few solarcycles.” Optimus smiled nervously, wincing as he saw a few more sparks appear on one of the counters.

“Thank you Ratchet. I’ll see you both later then?” He said, smiling nervously at Arcee who grinned back at him.

“Sure thing Optimus. See you!” She said cheerfully as the Peterbilt practically sprinted out of Medbay, leaving behind a small trail of pulsing sparks. Ratchet bent down and picked one up, carefully examining it before guffawing loudly and throwing it to Arcee, who caught it and watched in amazement as it turned from red to a soft lilac.

“Well,” Ratchet said triumphantly, “That explains _everything._ ”

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

Optimus was reaching his breaking point. He was laying on his berth desperately trying to recharge, but the dancing light from the pseudo-sparks collecting on his ceiling was keeping him awake. They just kept appearing, and it seemed that there would be no end to them. The big rig tried to keep his mind off of the baubles, and he found it drifting to Arcee once again. A small smile spread across his face as he thought of the arm-wrestling contest she and Smokescreen had earlier at their darkcycle refuel. Even though the sports car was quite a bit bigger than her, Arcee had practically floored him on their first round. She then went on to wipe the floor with everyone’s chassis at handstands, much to her amusement. Optimus himself couldn’t even stay still for more than a few cycles before he overbalanced due to his rather large pedes. As he remembered more and more goofy things he and his team had done since returning home, one by one his over-tired systems dipped into recharge.

When Optimus woke, he let out a strangled squawk of frustration. The sparks were so numerous that they went up to his ankles. With a single-minded ferocity, the Peterbilt began to subspace the sparks as fast as he could, cursing as the glowing orbs disappeared into the sub-dimensional pockets. Once all of the sparks were in his pockets, Optimus transformed and barreled out of the Hall of Records. His tires screeched against the road as he swerved around Dreadwing and Bulkhead, heading out of Iacon. Once he had left the city on the edge of the horizon, he slowly rolled to a stop and transformed again, opening his subspace and letting everything inside spill out. When the deluge of pseudo-sparks accented by empty blaster cartridges, half-consumed energon rations and old datapads finally stopped, Optimus flopped down on the pile and promptly fell into recharge out of sheer frustration.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

Arcee rolled to a stop several hundred feet from Optimus and the pile of stuff he was recharging on. Transforming into her root mode and taking something from her subspace, she quietly approached her commander.

“Optimus?” she called, and the Prime started awake. He blinked wearily at her before carefully sitting up, some of the sparks on the pile cascading towards the ground.

“Hello Arcee,” he sighed tiredly, his piercing cyan optics flickering over her faceplate. As the prime seemed too tired for more words, the two wheeler opened her servo to reveal a pseudo-spark of her own, shining a beautiful cerulean blue. At the sight of the blue orb, Optimus’s optics widened and he stood up, slowly walking over to Arcee with sparks trailing his pedesteps. He gently cradled her servos in his own, watching as a few of his own sparks flew to orbit around Arcee’s before they all faded to a pale lilac and fused together. Optimus lifted his optics to gaze into Arcee’s own, and they simply gazed at one another for a long while.

“Arcee…” he murmured, reaching up to caress her cheekplate with the back of his digit. The smaller femme reached her own servo up to rest it on his own cheekplate before they both began to laugh. Optimus hefted Arcee up and spun around, basking in the warmth of her smile. Eventually he returned to the pile of sparks and tripped, falling into the glowing mess and clutching Arcee to his chestplates before tucking her head underneath his chin. The two ‘bots stayed snuggled together until Hadeen fell beneath the horizon once again. As they basked in each other’s company under the thousands of stars, Optimus felt a part of his spark grow warmer.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Tumblr post: http://pitfallwanderer.tumblr.com/post/102578898462


End file.
